LSU snags RHP Landon Hood out of transfer portal

LSU was looking for difference making pitchers in 2027 and Gonzaga’s Landon Hood was about as big of an addition as any team will make on the mound this offseason. 

The Tigers secured a commitment from Hood on Thursday night to bring in starting caliber competition with multiple years of eligibility still left, according to a report from D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers. During his true freshman season with the Bulldogs, Hood was one of the bright young pitchers in the country. 

He threw 54.1 innings on the season and delivered a 2.48 ERA with 78 strikeouts and 21 walks across 16 appearances in 2026. A pitcher who only got better as the season moved along, Hood allowed just three earned runs over his final nine appearances, striking out 40 batters and walking only seven during that stretch of the year. 

This is a young pitcher with a ton of talent and untapped potential who will come in and immediately earn a significant role within this pitching staff. LSU is set to return right handed arms like Casan Evans, William Schmidt, Cooper Moore and Marcos Paz in 2027. While all of them are still held in high regard by the program and will be battling for those weekend spots, the truth of the matter is there’s still more development that needs to take place. 

The Tigers are likely going into next fall with a lot up in the air about what the pitching rotation and roles will look like, which is absolutely how they should approach the fall. Someone like Hood, who throws 92-94 mph mainly but can touch 96 mph and works in a curveball and changeup combination is going to bring needed competition to this staff. 

Johnson said multiple times this offseason how he and Nate Yeskie are going to do a full scale analysis of what went wrong and how to get those returning pitchers executing to the level they should be. But other really talented arms coming in and pushing those players is an absolute necessity and Hood checks that box. 

“It’ll be a full scale analysis. I believe in Coach Yeskie a lot. I believe in Jamie [Tutko] a lot. I believe in some of the pitchers that can return. But they have to get a lot better and they know it. We’re gonna make sure that we do everything in our power to put them in position to be successful. I think there’s guys who can be a lot better than they are,” Johnson said about pitching after the season. 

“There’s too many walks, too many hit batters, too many wild pitches and we can’t get off the field when we need to. When we score, we give up runs immediately and we need to make sure we’re diving into all of that.”